“As far as the relative autonomy and power of the African post-colonial state to decide the whys and wherefores of economic development is concerned, what colonialism or neocolonialism started, contemporary globalisation has seemingly finished off. But because capitalist globalisation is not an immutable Leviathan, its power, reach and import can be limited by African countries that put their political house in order and do their policy homework properly. An effective historical way of doing this (as the Asian ‘Tigers’ or ‘Dragons’ have shown) is through the developmental state (DS). This
brief interrogates the instrumentalities of the DS against the backdrop of Africa’s socio-economic challenges. It argues that, in order for the DS to begin to have social resonance and relevance on the continent, a democratic DS needs to be constituted to tame and domesticate globalisation, as well as genuinely democratise politics and development.”
